Capturing big animals is big business in S. Africa

MAKHASA GAME RESERVE, South Africa, Apr 13 (Reuters) The helicopter hovers a few metres above the thorn trees like a mechanical bird of prey.

In the bush below is its quarry a young adult bull rhinoceros weighing almost a tonne which is succumbing to the effects of a dart fired from the air.

When the beast is deemed sufficiently groggy, the game capture team drapes a cloth over its eyes and goes to work as its legs wobble and it sinks to the ground.

The operation is carried out with clinical precision: the animal is roped while a hole is drilled in its horns to accommodate a microchip.

''It's a bar code. It's unique, so if it ever gets poached we can trace it,'' says Jeff Cooke, the head of the game capture unit for KZN Wildlife, the conservation body for KwaZulu-Natal province.

Game capture is serious business in South Africa, where it has been honed to a fine science to supply niche markets.

Almost unique in the world, South Africa's privately owned wildlife and game breeding has been a growth industry, although there are signs it has peaked with prices declining partly because of the large supply of animals.

Animals are bred for a range of purposes: for conservation, for hunting, and for sale to other game reserves. They are captured on both state-owned and private land.

Sales from game auctions in the country last year amounted to 93.5 million rand compared with about 101.3 million rand in 2004, according to one estimate.

KZN Wildlife says revenue raised from its own game auctions was about 9.1 million rand last year compared with almost 22 million rand in 2001, but turnover has been up and down.

It remains high enough to support a burgeoning industry dedicated to the live capture and transport of wildlife.

FLY-BY-NIGHTERS ''It is a growing industry though nobody knows exactly how many operators there are,'' said Petronel Nieuwoudt, who runs a game capture school.

''There are some good operators out there but unfortunately there are also some fly-by-nighters and that is bad because animals can easily die from stress,'' she told Reuters.

KZN Wildlife alone moves between 3,500 and 4,500 head of game each year. They range from dainty duikers, a small species of antelope, all the way up to elephants.

The rhino being captured on this day is the first to be offered on the market by the Makhasa Game Reserve, a 1,700-hectare conservation area owned by the local black community.

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